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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A new set of competency exams might have Utah's class of high school seniors feeling like lab rats.
The 36-thousand students who are seniors in high schools statewide are the first to have to pass the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test.
If they pass, they'll get diplomas. If they try and fail, they'll get an "alternative diploma. If they do neither they'll get a certificate of completion.
How those documents will translate in the real world -- for jobs or for going on to college -- is still a mystery.
It's also unclear how the pass or fail rate of this year's seniors will help state lawmakers decide future funding for the state's schools.
Results from pretests last year showed as many as 26 percent of students couldn't pass the basic skills exams.
But lawmakers didn't add funds to the state schools budget.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
